Pietá

Our aunts and our mothers too
never noticed how important life was
until they reached their sixties or seventies,
then, astonished by this discovery,
they went quite mad for a few weeks:
they forgot their regular Thursday date with their children,
they bought things they didn't need from the supermarket,
they yelled down the phone, interminably,
as if they had spotted a UFO landing in the back garden.

Later, determined to make up for lost time,
Our aunts and our mothers too
Signed up for aerobic classes
Run by the local authority, 'My name's so-and-so,
But please don't ask me my age.'
And from then on, they danced to the rhythm
Of the numbers, running up and down, whooping and jumping,
One Two Three and Stretch, One Two Three and Stretch.
The sports centre coldly gathered up their laughter.

Obedient to the teacher's orders,
They continued their running up and down, their whooping and jumping,
And now and again they would all go out to supper together,
Abandoning their tracksuits for something more elegant.
Until, one day, they would come over all dizzy at breakfast
And collapse on top of one of their children,
And they would die some time later, early in the morning,
While their friends at the sports centre were still busily chanting
One Two Three and Stretch, One Two Three and Stretch.